


New Arrivals.

by RedStarFiction



Category: Outlander, Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 09:57:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7840318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedStarFiction/pseuds/RedStarFiction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hi guys,</p><p>I am now back to work after an amazing wedding and mini honeymoon and trying to catch up on the backlog of work but I have a very short little fluff piece set around Fiery Cross. </p><p>Thank you,<br/>Han</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Arrivals.

Jamie pressed his back lightly against the padded cushion of the chair and grunted softly as his vertebrae popped, gently circling his left shoulder to ease the stiffness that had settled there. The firelight sent quivering shadows across the bare floorboards and onto the settee where Claire slept. He watched the light and darkness play across her features and the left side of his mouth quirked upwards in a soft half-smile. 

Jamie’s gaze flickered from Claire’s face, relaxed and slightly pouting in slumber, to the ceiling above. He heard a muffled snore and a hushed word from the room above, no doubt Roger Mac waking from habit, expected the wailing of the bairn. It would not be Brianna; from the look of the lass at supper it would take more than the phantom cry of their son to rouse her. She had dark rings beneath her eyes and her skin was pale and drawn. Jamie glanced down at Jem asleep in the crook of his arm and sighed contentedly.   
He had waked with Jenny’s bairns a time or two but never with his own and the regret of it had nagged at him over the years, sometimes a dull ache, other times a sharp stabbing pain beneath his ribs that stole his breath.

Claire assured him that it was not a highlight of parenting and that when Bree was teething she and Frank had struggled to function normally for almost three months due to sleep deprivation. Watching Brianna struggle to keep her eyes open as she shovelled food into her mouth with the thoughtless rhythm of a sleep walker had told Jamie that Claire was not merely trying to spare his feelings but all the same …

Jem blinked into wakefulness, his eyes bright in the firelight and for a moment he fixed his sights on his grandfather and the two regarded each other with mutual interest, then Jem’s mouth formed a small ‘O’ and he yawned mightily, little arms flailing above his head. Jamie laughed despite himself and placed the tip of his index finger in the little lads hand, marvelling as he always did at just how tightly Jem gripped it.

“Ah a braw wee lad ye’ll be for sure.”  
He crooned and his smile broadened as Jem drew his finger greedily towards his mouth. Jamie, mindful of what Claire and Bree told him of ‘germs’ gently removed his finger before Jem could discover that it was not a source of milk. Jem scrunched his face, emitting a couple of hefty grunts and Jamie braced himself for the shriek that would almost certainly follow wondering whether he could calm the lad without him waking Bree.

“Da?”  
She stood in the doorway, her shift stopping just above her knees, long red hair hanging over her shoulders, curling with sleep. 

“Here, let me …”  
She crossed the distance between them and took Jem in her arms, turning away from Jamie and shrugging the strap off of her shoulder in the same movement, bringing Jem close and letting him latch on to feed.   
“I didn’t realise you were down here with Mama.”  
Bree whispered

“Ah weel, it seemed only fair. Besides ye Mam was fair exhausted from the day and …”  
Jamie shrugged  
“I dinna mind helping. I dinna mind it at all.”

Brianna smiled over her shoulder at him   
“Thank you Da. I needed the sleep but I can take him back up with me.”

Jamie nodded and stood, keeping his eyes carefully turned away from Brianna to protect her modesty as he retrieved two small blankets from a wooden chest by the window and draped the first carefully over Claire. 

“If ye prefer to do so but I dinna mind keeping him wi’ me a bit longer.”

Bree shook her head   
“It’s okay Da, he’ll sleep for a few more hours now but will only want me again when he wakes. You get some rest.”

Jamie stepped behind Brianna again and wrapped the second blanket around her shoulders, allowing his hands to rest on her arms offering his support and his help through his touch. 

“Thanks.”  
Bree reached up and squeezed his fingers lightly.

“Your mother tells me that ye were a bit o’ a night owl too as a wean.”

“Apparently I was more of a screech owl!”  
Bree grinned and settled herself back in the arm chair her father had vacated.   
“I think all things considered I’m pretty lucky with Jemmy.”

“Och aye! He’s perfect!”  
Jamie beamed and then blushed slightly realising how gushing he sounded. Not that Bree was under any illusions about just how deeply her father loved his new grandson but the way he said the word ‘perfect’ his accent causing the ‘r’ to roll slightly cause pride to swell in her heart afresh. 

“Yeah. He is.”  
She agreed, trailing one finger over the curve of her son’s cheek.

“As are you lass.”  
Jamie spoke so softly that for a second Bree was not sure she heard him at all but as his lips pressed a kiss to the crown of her head and one large, scarred thumb stroked the soft red fuzz on Jemmy’s crown she knew she had head her father correctly.

“Thank you Da.”

“Mmmphmm.”  
Jamie turned and gathered Claire to his chest, lifting her into his arms. She smiled sleepily against his neck but did not stir. 

"Da?"

"Aye?"

"You really are a natural with him,"  
She smiled jostling Jem lightly to get a better position   
"We're so lucky to have you."

Jamie ducked his head, blinking a couple of times and then cleared his throat gently.  
"It is I who am the lucky one."  
He glanced down at Claire again, a look of such pure love that Bree felt a lump rise in her own throat. Jamie looked up again and smiled at her.  
“Good night Bree.”

“Good night Da.”

Jamie eased the door closed behind him with his foot and navigated the stairs to the large room that he could not help thinking of as ‘the Laird’s chamber’ though it was hardly a grand room; with his wife in his arms. He set her down on the bed and crossed to the window looking out across the wild landscape of their new home, eager for the future and thoroughly content with the present.


End file.
